Sausage King Adventures

A sausage maker like Charles Clewlow is an inspiration.  I first tried his Dabber Sizzler back in 2005 and I was delighted to finally get to meet him.  He doesn’t have to worry about food miles and ethical sourcing because it’s something he’s always done like his Father and Grandfather before him.  Charles’ beef, for example, is reared 4 miles away and processed 9 miles away.  His pork is reared at the local agricultural college.

This is a town which cares about it’s food.  There are five butchers in the town, a greengrocer and a fishmonger as well as scores of other, small, independent shops.

Aside from the excellence in sausages (and more on that in a minute) when you first see the shop you realise it is not by accident that Charles keeps winning Nantwich in Bloom awards:

The magnificent frontage welcomes you in to see the vast array of fresh quality produce on offer.  The inside of the shop is light and airy.  Charles’ Father came up with the original recipe for their traditional pork sausages back in 1929 and the current variations are true to this base recipe.

There are up to 30 different varieties available at a time and I can confirm that they are truly sensational sausages.  I recently tried the Pork & Garlic which were dangerously moorish with their meaty tangy flavour.  The Pork & Apple had proper chunks of apple in which made it really juicy and succulent and the smell and the taste of the cider perfectly complimented the meat.  You will be able to read my full review on www.sausagefans.com shortly.

Not only has Charles truly innovated with his sausages but the rest of his products are also imaginative.  You can buy, for example, pre-marinated chicken in portions for two people which just needs sticking in the oven.  At £2.65 per pack this is further proof that supporting your local butcher can be cheaper than buying from a supermarket.

They have also turned their hand to pie making and freshly produce a wide range including pork, steak and meat and potato.  All the pies are made on the premises so they can be 100% sure of the ingredients.

Clewlow’s butcher is a true family business spanning generations of the Clewlow family (Charles’ son now works in the business) and I think is an example of how it should be done.  In a climate of credit crunching people are turning to honest butchers like Charles to help them get the most for their money.

H Clewlow is on Pepper Street in Nantwich

http://www.clewlows.co.uk

01270 625366

I was delighted to visit Ludlow to help judge the Expert’s Choice as part of their Sausage Trail.  The venue and the format are both brilliant.  Visitors to the Food Festival try sausages from the butchers in the town and vote to make a People’s Choice.  Then later a group of experts also sample the sausages to give their opinion.

As always at the Ludlow Food Festival the quality of the sausages was extremely high and judging was difficult.  This year I was joined by Chris Sheen (from Musks) and Henrietta Green (from Food Lovers Britain) as well as my Father in Law who has become an expert after being subjected to many tastings in the Sausage King Household!  The decision was as difficult as it always is in Ludlow and in the end we had to take into account the whole sausage and include the quality of the casings and any shrinking that had taken place during cooking and all four judges decided on A H Griffiths.

Fortunately the Expert’s Choice was the same as the people’s choice so I didn’t have to jump on the motorbike and escape quickly!

While at the Ludlow Food Festival, which is the central point on so many Foodie’s calendarsm I took the opportunity to try and find some perfect British drinks to drink with sausages.  My findings include wine, ale and perry and I will write more about these on www.sausagefans.com in the next few days.

Next weekend is a key date in anyone’s sausage diary!  The Ludlow Food Festival sausage trail.  It’s worth getting to Ludlow early as there is a limit of 2000 tickets which you use to tour the towns sausage makers sampling as you go.  You then vote helping to make the “people’s choice”.  Later on in the day a team of experts will also sample the sausages and make an “experts choice”!

Not only is Ludlow the centre of the universe for sausages next weekend but there will also be 130 or so other local food stalls!

I was delighted to make a short appearance in The Pig Issue when the BPEX came filming in Norfolk.

The BPEX are making a three part documentary about the plight of UK pig farmers.  Although standards of pork in the UK are highest in Europe some consumers are still buying foreign imported pork which is not raised to UK standards and this puts the UK Pig industry at risk.

Being in the documentary (assuming they don’t cut me out!) was great as part of the purpose of my trip around the UK is to highlight the plight of UK Pig Farmers.  You can read more about the campaign at: http://www.pigsareworthit.com/

A MOTORBIKE-riding connoisseur of the Great British Banger is to add the Bidwells Norwich and Norfolk Food Festival to his round-Britain food adventure.

Best known as the Sausage King, Stephen Plume will ride into the The Forum, Norwich with his Triumph motorbike on Saturday 11 October to announce the winner of the ever popular Battle of the Bangers competition as part of the Bidwells Norwich and Norfolk Food Festival.

Stephen, who is also a Diss-based Secondary school teacher, runs the award winning website www.sausagefans.com and, supported by Norfolk Triumph, is currently on a quest to travel the UK and visit as many butchers and pig-farmers as possible.

He is seeking to raise the profile of the Great British Banger and to encourage the public to understand the issues affecting farmers.

He is keen to play a part in the Food Festival’s Battle of the Bangers and to encourage butchers to take part so that the public’s favourite sausage for 2008 can be selected.

“I think the Battle of the Bangers is a great event and is a real opportunity for local butchers to showcase their products as well as for Norfolk food-lovers to appreciate the many and varied sausages that are currently out there,” he said.

“Anything we can do to encourage people to visit their local butcher and to sample different kinds of sausages is a great thing and I’m delighted to have been asked to announce the winner on stage in The Forum.”

This year, the competition will not only see a vote for the preferred ‘public choice’ but will also see professional foodies making a judgement on their favoured banger.

For the past two years, the Battle of the Bangers contest has been won by Archers Butchers of Norwich. The company has recently secured a contract to supply the popular attraction Bewilderwood with 2000 sausages per week – an opportunity the business owners believe stems from their competition success.

Sarah de Chair of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association, who co-ordinates the Bangers competition as part of the Bidwells Norwich and Norfolk Food Festival, said: “We are really looking forward to this year’s contest and feel sure it is going to be even bigger and better than before.

“Having a visit from the Sausage King is a special feature and we are confident he will attract a lot of attention when he roars up to The Forum on the day. His motivation to applaud the work of local butchers is something to be admired and we are very grateful that he is adding the Festival to his busy ‘round UK tour’ schedule.”

Back for the fourth year, the Bidwells Norwich & Norfolk Food Festival will take place between Wednesday 8th and Tuesday 14th October 2008.

This year, co-ordinators VisitNorwich are lining up a tempting programme of foodie events as part of the celebrations with more than 130 businesses expected to be involved in the programme.

As well as the Battle of the Bangers Competition, other confirmed events for the 2008 itinerary are the John Lewis Cookery Theatre and RNAA Food Fair at The Forum, the Great Norfolk Sunday Roast, The Moveable Feast and the Jellyvision Schools Challenge.